Diplomatic Text
X
21
deal August 22. 1782
It grieves me my dear Friend
to find you have so little Hope of the
Recovery of the poor little prince. I
Saw so much of the dear Child while
he was here, that I have felt quite
interested about him. And yet, princes
are exposed to so many peculiar Temp
tations, that there is the leʃs Reason
to regret, When they are removed from
the World, in the Innocence of Infancy.
I do indeed feel all the disap
pointment you can Suppose, at the
Breaking up of the charming Society
which I have enjoyed this Summer.
Yet I am happy in the Reflexion of
those delightful Weeks, which I have
Spent with dear Lady Charlotte Finch, in a
more Easy & uninterrupted manner than
it was poʃsible in any other Situation.
My other Friends Who are more at Liberty,
I can hope to to enjoy in the same un
restrained manner in Town. pray tell Lady
Charlotte with my most respectful & affecti
onate Compliments. how I wish for her to
be of our party to day when Mrs Feilding
& Miʃs Penn are to dine with me, &
Lady J. Penn has been so good to pro
mise to come in the Afternoon: for she
Strictly adheres to her promise to Lady
Charlotte, never to dine out: though I
think such lit dinners as mine could
not overpower the most delicate Health.
For in pursuance of the plan to which
you & I so strictly adhere, though I am
Sometimes honoured with great Company,
I never pretend to give any Thing but
such very little dinners as are accommodated
to my own Fortune: & I have the comfort of
seeing my noble Friends look just as well
pleased, as if they were Suffocated with
twenty dishes smoking under their noses.
What you mention of the
people of high Rank in Germany, keep
ing at Such a prodigious distance from
their Inferiors, does in good degree --- obviate
the Objection in my last Letter. -- How
much more favorable to the Rights of
Humanity is the Equal Constitution of
our happy Country! Where all the orders
of Society are linked together, by that Ca
pacity which every one enjoys of rising
to those Honours & dignities, from which
no one Individual is legally excluded: &
Consequently none is an object of Contempt.
I return your German Translation:
but alas I fear by the latest Accounts I
have heard of the poor unhappy Wanderer
her disorder is growing Worse. It was very
humane in Comte Mareschal --- & General
Freytag to interest themselves so much in
this afflicting Story.
I have not seen Miʃs Berney's
Cecilia, nor heard any Character of it. Her
first publication I read, & admired very
highly. Do you know the Author? She has
something particularly pleasing, & modest
in her Appearance.
I beg my Compliments to Madame
de la Fîte,[1] & am very glad both to hear
of the Recovery of her Health, & of her
determination not to run the Hazard of
a Relapse by Continuing that immense
Task, which her Generosity had tempted
her to begin, & to which her Strength
Was so unequal.
Adieu my dear Friend
God bleʃs you with Health & cheerful
spirits to go through your honorable duty.
Ever most affectionately yours
ECarter
red text is normalised and/or unformatted in other panel)
Normalised Text
deal August 22. 1782
It grieves me my dear Friend
to find you have so little Hope of the
Recovery of the poor little prince. I
Saw so much of the dear Child while
he was here, that I have felt quite
interested about him. And yet, princes
are exposed to so many peculiar Temptations
, that there is the less Reason
to regret, When they are removed from
the World, in the Innocence of Infancy.
I do indeed feel all the disappointment
you can Suppose, at the
Breaking up of the charming Society
which I have enjoyed this Summer.
Yet I am happy in the Reflexion of
those delightful Weeks, which I have
Spent with dear Lady Charlotte Finch, in a
more Easy & uninterrupted manner than
it was possible in any other Situation.
My other Friends Who are more at Liberty,
I can hope to enjoy in the same unrestrained
manner in Town. pray tell Lady
Charlotte with my most respectful & affectionate
Compliments. how I wish for her to
be of our party to day when Mrs Feilding
& Miss Penn are to dine with me, &
Lady Juliana Penn has been so good to promise
to come in the Afternoon: for she
Strictly adheres to her promise to Lady
Charlotte, never to dine out: though I
think such dinners as mine could
not overpower the most delicate Health.
For in pursuance of the plan to which
you & I so strictly adhere, though I am
Sometimes honoured with great Company,
I never pretend to give any Thing but
such very little dinners as are accommodated
to my own Fortune: & I have the comfort of
seeing my noble Friends look just as well
pleased, as if they were Suffocated with
twenty dishes smoking under their noses.
What you mention of the
people of high Rank in Germany, keeping
at Such a prodigious distance from
their Inferiors, does in good degree obviate
the Objection in my last Letter. -- How
much more favourable to the Rights of
Humanity is the Equal Constitution of
our happy Country! Where all the orders
of Society are linked together, by that Capacity
which every one enjoys of rising
to those Honours & dignities, from which
no one Individual is legally excluded: &
Consequently none is an object of Contempt.
I return your German Translation:
but alas I fear by the latest Accounts I
have heard of the poor unhappy Wanderer
her disorder is growing Worse. It was very
humane in Comte Mareschal & General
Freytag to interest themselves so much in
this afflicting Story.
I have not seen Miss Berney's
Cecilia, nor heard any Character of it. Her
first publication I read, & admired very
highly. Do you know the Author? She has
something particularly pleasing, & modest
in her Appearance.
I beg my Compliments to Madame
de la Fîte, & am very glad both to hear
of the Recovery of her Health, & of her
determination not to run the Hazard of
a Relapse by Continuing that immense
Task, which her Generosity had tempted
her to begin, & to which her Strength
Was so unequal.
Adieu my dear Friend
God bless you with Health & cheerful
spirits to go through your honourable duty.
Ever most affectionately yours
Elizabeth Carter
quotations, spellings, uncorrected forms, split words, abbreviations, formatting)
Notes
Metadata
Library References
Repository: Houghton Library Repository, Harvard University
Archive: Elizabeth Carter and Hannah More letters to Mary Hamilton
Item title: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton
Shelfmark: MS Eng 1778 21
Correspondence Details
Sender: Elizabeth Carter
Place sent: Deal
Addressee: Mary Hamilton
Place received: unknown
Date sent: 22 August 1782
Letter Description
Summary: Letter from Elizabeth Carter to Mary Hamilton on a range of topics. She laments but with resignation Hamilton's doubts of Prince Alfred's recovery. She regrets losing the company of Lady Charlotte Finch. She talks of the modest dinners she gives, which yet seem to please her sometimes elevated company. She compares the extreme marking of rank in Germany with what she sees as ‘the Equal Constitution of our happy Country’. She asks about Frances Burney's Cecilia and commends both the author and her first publication, and she comments on Marguerite de la Fite's recovery and ‘that immense Task’ she had previously embarked on.
Original entry in Houghton Library catalogue: Carter, Elizabeth, 1717-1806. Autograph manuscript letter (signed) to Mary Hamilton; Deal, 1782 August 22.
Length: 2 sheets, 000 words
Transliteration Information
Editorial declaration: First edited in the project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers' (Hannah Barker, Sophie Coulombeau, David Denison, Tino Oudesluijs, Cassandra Ulph, Christine Wallis & Nuria Yáñez-Bouza, 2019-2023).
All quotation marks are retained in the text and are represented by appropriate Unicode characters. Words split across two lines may have a hyphen on the first, the second or both fragments (reco-|ver, imperfect|-ly, satisfacti-|-on); or a double hyphen (pur=|port, dan|=ger, qua=|=litys); or none (respect|ing). Any point in abbreviations with superscripted letter(s) is placed last, regardless of relative left-right orientation in the original. Thus, Mrs. or Mrs may occur, but M.rs or Mr.s do not.
Acknowledgements: XML version first created without transcription as part of project 'Unlocking the Mary Hamilton Papers', funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council under grant AH/S007121/1. Transcription added after the funded period under the supervision of David Denison and Nuria Yáñez-Bouza.
Transliterator: Pete Morris, Artificial Intelligence and Ideas Adoption (AIIA), The University of Manchester Library (Plain text transliteration submitted 26 February 2026)
Cataloguer: Bonnie B. Salt, Archivist, Houghton Library
Copyright: Transcriptions, notes and TEI/XML © the editors
Revision date: 29 July 2026
